Easter Cuppy Cakes

[shivakat]

Easter Cuppy Cakes
A friend of mine is hosting an egg-dying party on Easter Sunday, and I thought I'd bake something for it.

I'm planning to use this recipe for white cake, I've used it before for a sheet cake and the texture and taste is really good.

White Cake, scaled to make 36 cupcakes:

• 3 cups white sugar
• 1-1/2 cups butter
• 6 eggs
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon and 2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 cups milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.  

Now, after reading the comments, I followed some of the suggestions, like adding about 1/8 to 1/4th cup more milk per 12 cupcake batch. Others advised to give it some extra time to whip (and use the whip instead of the paddle if you have a Kitchenaid). When done, they described it as resembling yellow Coolwhip. Following this advice, the cake it made was very very tasty, and a nice texture.

I was planning on using a variant on Wilton's Buttercream frosting recipe, unless anyone has a better alternative:

Wilton's Buttercream Frosting:
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon (Mexican*) vanilla
• 1 teaspoon almond extract*
• 1 teaspoon butter flavoring*
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk

*My changes
Makes: About 3 cups of icing.
In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.
For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.

For Pure White Icing (stiff consistency), omit butter; substitute an additional 1/2 cup shortening for butter and add 1/2 teaspoon No-Color Butter Flavor. Add up to 4 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk to thin for icing cakes.

I'd like to do a filling or something to jazz these up, but I'm not sure what... or how!